Judges chapter 12, and tonight
we'll be looking at verse 1 down through verse 6. Judges chapter 12, verses 1 through
6. Now, before we go into this,
before we get to this text here, I want us to see where this is
coming from before we go any further. that this is the time
where the Lord had called Jephthah to deliver Israel. And Jephthah,
you remember, made a vow, and he said unto God, whatever comes
out of my house, whatever you provide out of my house, that
I'll offer as a burnt offering. If you give us deliverance over
our enemies, Ammon, the children of Ammon. And he did offer what
God provided. He offered his daughter. God
had, on purpose, chosen that his daughter would come out first
to greet him. And she came out, and his heart
was very low, but he offered her. And she was a willing sacrifice. She was a willing participant. Because this was a picture. to
us of the Lord Jesus Christ and our delivery from sin. Now, after
this, if this was not bad enough for Jephthah, if this had not
fallen in a bad state for him as it was, now then, here comes
his brethren, Ephraim. After the Lord delivered them,
and he offered his daughter as a vow unto God, his brethren
came out to war. against him. His brethren came
out to war. Ephraim, you remember, is one
of the sons of Joseph. Ephraim and Manasseh. Well, the
Gideonites, they dwelt on one side of the river and the Ephraimites
dwelt on the other side. And so after this great battle
and great victory, they come over there and they want to fight
them because They said they didn't call them to the battle. Ephraim says that they're going
out to war. They said they went out to fight
against them because they did not call them to the battle.
Now, this we do know, that Israel was oppressed at
this time. If you go back to Judges 10 and
look at verse 7, it says, The anger of the Lord was hot against
Israel, and he sold them. into the hands of the Philistines
and into the hands of the children of Ammon. And that year they
vexed and oppressed the children of Israel. Eighteen years, all
the children of Israel were on the other side of Jordan in the
land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead. Now we know this, that that year,
all Israel was oppressed. But those that were on the other
side of Jordan, the Gideonites, they were oppressed for 18 years. Imagine that, 18 years they were
oppressed. And now then the Lord delivers
their enemies into their hands and here comes Ephraim, Johnny
come lately. He comes in there and says, Oh,
well, why didn't you call me? I would have come out and helped
you. Wait a second. I was there 18 years and you
didn't come out and help me. And now then you will say you
want to come out and help me. You're coming. You really didn't
want to help me. You're going to war against me. When I read this, I asked myself
this question. Why do you suppose that the children
of Ephraim were so mad? Why were they so mad at Jephthah
and the Gideonites for defeating the enemy? Why did they not come in and
be content and encouraged that their brethren had defeated the
foes that were oppressing them? You figured that they would be
content with that, wouldn't you? You figured that they would be
glad. They'd come over and celebrate
with their brothers. But this is because Ephraim desired
to share in the glory of the victory. They desired to share
in the glory of the victory that God had delivered unto that people,
unto Gilead. They desired to share in it,
and they were angry when they were not able to share in the
victory. And they wanted to fight and
show themselves strong against their brethren. And so this is the first thing
I want us to see. That Ephraim here is a picture
of the natural man. A picture of the natural man. Our natural man. Ourselves. This is a picture of ourselves
by nature. These Ephraimites, they were
in bondage for a year. They had only been in bondage
one year. The Gideonites, Jephthah, they
had been in bondage eighteen years. Now, Jephthah tells these
men, and when they come over and say, well, you didn't call
me, Jephthah says this. He says, verse 2, and Jephthah
said unto them, I and my people were at great strife with the
children of Ammon, and when I called you, you delivered me not out
of their hands. Jephthah, he rebukes them and
tells them, no. We called you, but you wouldn't
come. You wouldn't help us. And this
is a humiliating truth of the gospel. This is a humiliating
truth that every son of Adam is born in bondage and death
and sin and does not know it. Ephraim acts as though he was
free. to come and help. Isn't it our
nature to try to help everybody else? That we're somehow superior
to everybody, and we are going to come down and help you out.
I remember my pastor in Houston, he got a call one time from a
man, and he was in a seminary, and he wanted to come down, and
he said on the phone, he said, I want to help you out. And my
pastor said, I don't want out. I don't want to. That's our nature. We are in
bondage, but we don't know it. Man, the greatest genocide that
has ever happened to man was the sin of Adam. This didn't just kill millions
of people. This didn't just kill billions
of people. Adam's sin killed the whole race. All of us are born captives. Born dead in sins. We're in bondage. We can't help
ourselves, much less someone else. The bondage of man has been from
the beginning. Man was slain and sin has slain
us all so that none of us could ever escape these chains of sin. Have you ever tried to stop sinning? Talk about a vain effort, a futile
effort. To even try to hold your mind
at bay. We can't. It's because we have
no power. We have no will to do it. You see, mercy, the Scripture
talks of the mercy of God. It's in Romans 9, it says, it's
not of him that willeth, nor him that runneth, but God that
showeth mercy. Romans 5, it tells us, wherefore,
as by one man, one man, one deed, one sin, one act of disobedience,
sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so death passed
upon all men. Why? For all have sinned. How do we know this has passed?
Have you sinned? If you've sinned, you know it's
true. that you are in bondage to it
by nature. And there are some, like Ephraim,
who are proud. This nature is proud even when
it has nothing to be proud of. Ephraim, if they could have delivered
themselves, why didn't they deliver themselves? They couldn't, and
yet they're boasting, to Jephthah as though they could have delivered
Jephthah. No, they couldn't have delivered
Gilead and Jephthah. They couldn't have even saved
themselves. And there are some who think that this will all
work out in the end. Whoever plans a trip like that,
does anybody plan a trip like that? Well, I'm going to go to
California and wherever I go, it'll just work out. I'll just
get there. Let me go over east here. Take 64 east, and I'm just going
to head out that way, and sure enough, I'll run into California
someday." No, you'll run into the ocean and drown. And yet, this is what men think
about their eternal soul. This is how much thought they
actually put into it. That it'll just work out. I don't
want to think about it. But it'll just work out. God
will be OK. You know, God made me. It's God's
fault I'm this way. So He's got to accept me. How
arrogant is that? It's arrogant. Others think by
their religious actions or obedience of the law or traditions that
by some ceremonial instance they are made pure before God. Their own conscience tells them
that's not so. They think by their good works,
it's somehow their good works. Now, they're not counting. They're
not trying to count. But somehow it will outweigh
their sins. What a deception. What a depraved
nature we have. And when the Word of God is clearly
spoken concerning this matter of sin, people are going to get
angry. You can just expect it. People
are going to be angry. Ephraim was angry. This is not
just a brother spat. This was a war. This was an out-and-out
war. The Scripture says that there
were 42,000. I think that's right. My text again. It says 42,000
in verse 6 were slain of Ephraim. This was a war. And when men hear this, they
hear of their guilt of sin against God, that there's not even one
thing they've ever done righteous. The most righteous thing that
we have ever done is full of sin. God says that all our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. Now, you want to compare yourself
to me, I'm sure that you will find that you have a lot better
than I have to offer. But it does not matter, God is
of purer eyes than to behold evil. Ezekiel 18, verse 4 says, the
soul that's in it. First of all, God says, all souls
are mine. Is that not something? Is that
not a statement? God says every soul is His. He
made it, and He can demand of it what He pleases. And He demands
of it perfect obedience. Perfect obedience. And He said,
the soul that sinneth, it shall die. Have you sinned? Now, we
fear physical death, but what about spiritual death? We're talking about eternity. Physical death is a moment. It's
a second, and it's gone. And then what? Eternity waits. We all have sinned and come short
of the glory of God, and we are not capable to do anything to
please God. We're not capable. When this is clear, men become
angry and they fight, not just against us. And I know that that's
so, that they're going to hate us for saying things like this. But mostly they're fighting against
God. Second of all, we can not only
see that Ephraim pictures our old nature, but we can see the
claim, the lie of all false religion, all false and lost men by Ephraim. Look at verse 1 at the second
part. Well, we'll just read the whole
verse there. And then the men of Ephraim gathered themselves
together and went northward and said unto Jephthah, Wherefore
passest thou over to fight against the children of Ammon, and didst
not call us to go up with thee? We will burn thine house upon
thee with fire. Now, Ephraim says, you didn't
call me. You didn't call me. Ephraim hears
of this great victory and they can't, they don't have any part
in it. They don't have any glory from
it. And the excuse they use is so feeble. You didn't call us. Instead of confessing that their
guilt and inability and their need of help. Gilead needed help
and so did Ephraim. They both needed help. They neither one could have done
it themselves. And when God delivered Gilead,
Ephraim should have come and recognized his own guilt. He
should have recognized. They should have recognized their
own need of help. But instead, they came up and
said, well, we would have helped you, but you didn't call us. Everybody listen and pay close
attention because this is important. I want you to know this. If you're
under the sound of my voice tonight, if you hear my words, I want
you to know that I'm not guilty of your blood. I won't be held
accountable for your blood because I'm calling you right now. I'm
calling you to the battle right now. I declare unto you that all of
you are sinners. All of us are guilty. And I tell
you that if your sins are not taken care of, if your sins are
not punished under the justice of God, you will suffer under
that justice for eternity. You will receive exactly what
you deserve, which is eternal damnation. Eternal hell. And I call you right now, do
battle with your sin. What does that mean, do battle
with your sin? God says it this way, Be ye holy even as I am
holy. That's what God says. God calls
us to battle sin and obey Him. Even though I call you to this
battle, I know that we see the futility of this. We even recognize
the futility of this. If God has made you aware of
your sin nature, then you know the futileness of this call.
You know that this is vain. I cannot fight against my sin.
And when? Why? I've already sinned. How
can I be holy? If you started right now being
holy, if you started right now from this day forward and never
sinned again, you are already guilty. What will you do with all the
other sins? You must be holy because God
demands it. Sinners don't come to God like
Ephraim. Don't come to God with your pride and your good works.
They're not accepted. Not accepted. Your religious profession of
faith? Don't go to God with that and expect that that will save
you. It won't. All who come to God demanding
salvation of God will be turned out into hell. I tell you, sinner, stop fighting
against God. Lay down your arms against God and see that God has already
won the victory you could never win. Jephthah had already won. Why
would they need to fight against Jephthah? He had already won. The victory was accomplished. Their enemies were defeated.
And instead of rejoicing, they fought against Him. And this
is what lost men do. They fight against the God who
has already obtained victory. Victory. God has won the victory
by sending His Son, Christ Jesus the Lord, who willingly came. And notice this. Look at your
text here. When Jephthah rebukes them, he says this in verse 3,
he says, that you delivered me not, I put my life in my hands."
What a picture of Christ that is. Christ put His own life in
His own hands. In His own hands. Go over to
John chapter 10. See it for yourself. Go to John
chapter 10. Our Lord Jesus, Jephthah being
a type of Christ here, said He put His life in His own hands,
didn't trust anybody else. And so the Lord Jesus Christ
tells these Pharisees the same thing. John chapter 10 and verse
17. Jesus says, Therefore doth my
Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take
it again. No man taketh it from me, but
I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down,
and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my Father." Jesus Christ had His own destiny in His hands,
and God trusted no one else with this but Him. And it was in His
hands. All of the souls of His people
were in His very hands. as their representative. This
is the gospel message, friends. A message of victory. Victory accomplished. Victory
over sin and death and hell and all our enemies. All our foes
have been defeated already. Jesus Christ was made to bear
the guilt of our sins. How is it that we are made holy
if we are so full of sin? It's because He bore all of our
sins in His own body on the tree. He suffered under the justice
of God. And everyone who believes, this
is from the youngest child to the oldest person, everyone who
believes on Christ, he is saved. Because faith is not something
the natural man can generate. Faith is not something the natural
man can come up with. It's something that God must
give us. Faith in Christ alone, without
anything else. If you believe in Christ alone,
then God says to you, why would you fight? Why would you fight all is well
with you? All is well with you who believe.
You have righteousness. Isn't that what God demanded
of you? And yet God provided it for you. I like that. When somebody demands something
of me and then provides it, that's good. It's even better when God
demands holiness and provides it for me. He demands justice
and provides it for me in His Son's death. He demands that I keep believing
on Him and He provides my faith every single minute of every
single day of my life. He provides that. In Him alone we can rejoice because we see clearly that our
salvation is not in anything we've done, Not in anything we're
doing, and not in anything we're going to do. Our salvation rests
in one person, in one man. It is in Jesus Christ the Lord.
That's where our salvation rests. The victory has been accomplished.
He is our wisdom, our righteousness, and our sanctification. And only
in Him, only in His perfect merit, are we able to approach unto
a holy God. In Romans chapter 3, the gospel,
I believe, is clearly explained. It's very plainly explained. Very simple. All of sin that
comes short of the glory of God. Is that not plain? You've missed
righteousness? Being justified freely. How is
a person made innocent? Who is guilty? Can you explain
that? I can only explain that the way
God does, by imputation. That God imputed my sins, charged
my sins to His Son, and charged His righteousness to me. That's
the only way I can explain it. The way that God did. And He did it freely by His grace. And that's the only way any one
of us could obtain victory, is freely. We couldn't have freed
ourselves. We couldn't have done anything
for ourselves. And through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus, whom God has set forth to be the propitiation through
faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission
of sins that are past through the forbearance of God, to declare,
I say, at this time His righteousness, that He might be just and the
justifier of them which believe in Jesus. And what's the question
after this? Where then is boasting? Where
then is glory? It's excluded. By the law? No. By works? No. But by the
law of faith. The law of faith excludes this.
In whom do you glory? One thing about salvation is
God doesn't share the glory. He says He will not give His
glory to another. God will not split this glory
with you. Either the victory is all of
Him, or it's all of you. There's no middle ground here. And men, by nature, pictured
by Ephraim, we see the result of all who try to share in the
glory. of God's salvation. What happened
to Ephraim? Verse 4, And Jephthah gathered
together the men of Gilead, and fought with Ephraim. And the
men of Gilead smote Ephraim. They died. Every one of them that went up
there seeking glory for the victory died. Anyone who comes to God
seeking part of the glory of Christ will die in their sin. Did not the Apostle make this
clear concerning circumcision? In the Old Testament ordinance,
one ordinance that people were clamoring about, one ordinance,
they said, oh yes, we believe in Jesus, but you must be circumcised
in order to be saved Paul said, that doesn't count
for anything. Matter of fact, if you trust
in that, Christ will profit you nothing. Ephraim was defeated, and so
will everybody who tries to share in the glory. And also this,
look in verse 5, and the Gideonites took the passage of Jordan before
the Ephraimites. And it was so that when the Ephraimites,
which were escaped, said, let me go over. And see, they want
to go back now. Those who escaped the battle
are trying to get over the river to go back home. Uh-uh. Jephthah took the river as well.
And no one crossed who was of Ephraim. No one crossed. And everyone who tried to cross
was found out by their speech. Look at this. He said, Let me
go over. And the men of Gilead said unto
him, Are you an Ephraimite? And if he said no, then they
would put this test to him. It was a test. And they would
say unto him, Say this, Shavolah. It means river. Just say river. Why don't you say river for me,
if you're not an Ephraimite? But he would say Sibboleth. It means river, but it's a different
dialect. You see, their speech betrayed
them. Their speech betrayed them. Friends,
Jesus Christ has taken hold of the River Jordan And none will
be able to cross who try to share in the glory of God's salvation. You know, this passage, I've
got it written down, but I won't take you there for time. In Matthew
25, you know that in the end, the Lord said that he will separate
all men on his one on his right hand and the rest on his left,
the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. And He'll
say to His people, come, you blessed of My Father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from before the foundation of
the world. He said, when I was sick, you helped me. When I was naked, you clothed
me. Sick, you visited me when I was in prison. He said, what
was the answer of the righteous? What's the answer of the righteous?
What's the speech of the righteous? The righteous say, Lord, when
did we do these things for You? How is it possible that you would
let me come and enter into thy kingdom? When have I done one
thing right for you? When? We don't know. Have you done one thing for Jesus? It makes me sick when people
say that. Well, I've done this for Jesus. No. Sorry. Your speech betrays you. Notice the speech of the wicked. He said, you on my left hand,
depart from me, you cursed into everlasting darkness, everlasting
fire. When I was thirsty, you gave
me no drink. A stranger, you took me not in. Naked, you didn't
clothe me. Sick and in prison, you did not
visit me. And they say this, Lord, when have we Not done that
for you. One word separates eternal bliss
from eternal damnation. In this passage, it's one letter. You'll notice that? You're missing the H. You're dead. Just as the Ephraimites, one
little difference separated them from the Gideonites. Ephraim
used the same language, but it was a different dialect. And
friends, today we use a lot of the same words. that false religion
uses. We use the word Christ. We use
the word redeemed. We use the word blood. We use
the word grace. And every one of us use these
words. But the truth is we have two
different Christ's that we are preaching. Their Christ needs them to help
in their salvation. There Christ died for all men
and waits for them to choose Him. Our Christ has already chosen
us, redeemed us, and then in time He reveals it to us. Our Christ actually accomplished
salvation and we had In no part, zero. No works of righteousness. Not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but by Thy grace, by Thy mercy You have
saved us. Our speech is very clear. We
are not worthy of anything but hell. And our speech is clear, the
victory has been won by God alone. And He receives all the glory.
And He is worthy of all my life. May the Lord ever give us such
speech of the righteous and not of Ephraim. I'm a sinner in nothing at all.
And Jesus Christ is my all in all. Is that not plain speech? Anybody
says and adds themselves in that mix, if they're anything but
a sinner and nothing at all, then Christ is not their all
in all. I pray that God would bless this to your heart, and
if you've not believed on Christ, I tell you, believe now. I believe now. I believe right
now. I pray that God blesses stand
and be dismissed in prayer.